Mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey and the United States have sparked widespread speculation and concern. Join us as we dive into the unexplained phenomenon, exploring government responses, eyewitness accounts, and the theories surrounding these enigmatic aerial objects.
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00:00They know where it came from and where it went, and for some reason they don't want to comment.
00:06Repeated sightings of strange things in the sky, inconclusive comments issued by multiple
00:10government agencies, and social media ablaze with conspiracy theories. If it all sounds like
00:16science fiction, then what's really disturbing is that the story is real. The headlines are
00:21mounting up and public feeling is beginning to get a little edgy. In the latter stages of 2024,
00:28a rush of reported drone activity has captured global attention, and the apparent lack of a
00:33concrete explanation has reignited a debate for the ages. Are we safe on Earth, and are we alone
00:40in the universe? Some of these drones are large. They've been compared to SUVs, for instance.
00:47They have flashing lights. They move in erratic ways, which a hobbyist probably would not be able
00:54to accomplish. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're taking a closer look at the drone sightings
00:59in New Jersey, over the rest of the United States, and indeed at other locations across the rest of
01:05the world. As a scientist, I can only attend to real evidence, and my hope is that if the government
01:11has such evidence, they will share it with scientists, because what lies outside the solar
01:18system is not a matter of national security. It's of interest to everyone on Earth. The first
01:26officially confirmed reports came in on November 18, 2024, in airspace around Morris County, New
01:33Jersey. From then, fresh cases were filed daily, and the number of sightings quickly soared. We've
01:38been looking for the past hour. I think we've seen about 40 or 50 of these drones. In fact,
01:43there's one over my shoulder right there. Unusual objects moving or hanging in the sky,
01:49mostly at night, sometimes as a cluster in formation, and at other times alone and isolated.
01:56Their shape varies, although most often the reports claim them to be glowing orbs or pointed
02:01and triangular. These have come to be known as the New Jersey drones, although that term
02:07doesn't even begin to tell the story. And they said this thing easily evaded them,
02:13disappeared out of thin air. So, you know, to me, it's if this is not our military, then it's
02:18then it's even more scary. And we need we need the answers, frankly. For one, it's a phenomenon
02:23that's by no means limited to only the state of New Jersey. The authorities in multiple other
02:28states, including New York, Connecticut and Ohio, have all confirmed that large numbers of reports
02:33have been received there as well. And with no indication, the sightings are coming to an end.
02:38Local and state officials are becoming increasingly impatient for answers.
02:43Videos and images have been shared online. The strange lights have been recorded moving over
02:48towns, cities, large expanses of water near to power stations, government buildings and military
02:55sites. There are clips of them moving at speed, seeming to pulsate. And in some cases, it's
03:00claimed that they've been seen to explode. In one of the most shocking early reports, a police
03:06officer went on record saying that they'd witnessed around 50 apparent drones over the ocean and
03:12quickly approaching the U.S. coastline. Each of these drones is claimed to have been about the
03:17size of a car. The FBI alone is said to have received more than 5000 tips related to potential
03:24drone activity over a period of just a few weeks. What is going on in New Jersey? We're investigating
03:30but I don't have an answer of who's responsible for that, of one or more people that are responsible
03:36for those drone flights. Away from America and a number of other similar sightings have been
03:43reported. In the U.K., unauthorized drones have been clocked over at least three U.S. air bases
03:49during the same late 2024 time window. In Germany, another reported sighting again over a U.S.
03:55military base. In terms of who's behind the controls, China, Iran, and Russia have all been
04:01variously put forward as potential culprits. The seeming focus on American targets has led
04:07many to believe that it could be a foreign adversary of the United States that's flying
04:11the drones on some kind of large-scale reconnaissance mission. But the word from the U.S.
04:16government would suggest otherwise. In general, the official line out of America has seemingly
04:21sought to dampen speculation and to imply that there is no major security issue. We have no
04:26evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public
04:32safety threat or have a foreign nexus. At the same time, however, the messaging hasn't exactly been
04:39clear. In late November 2024, a series of temporary flight restrictions were put in place over
04:45specific sites in the U.S., including over a Donald Trump-owned golf course in Bedminster,
04:51New Jersey, and around the Picatinny Arsenal military base, again in Morris County, New Jersey.
04:57Into early December, though, and the Morris County prosecutor's office sought to reassure
05:02the public, stating that there was, quote, no known threat to public safety. Nevertheless,
05:08in mid-December, a cutting-edge drone detection system was issued for use in New York State.
05:13Today, we're asking the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, to deploy special detection
05:20systems like the Robin. Rumors swirled that, although the authorities were claiming that
05:25there was nothing to worry about, they were, at the same time, unable to track or verify
05:30most of the reported sightings that were coming in. Unsurprisingly, the message that everything's
05:35fine but we don't necessarily know what they are didn't wash with everyone. And actually,
05:40to some degree, it only added to the confusion and concern.
05:43Now we got other politicians and officials in the government trying to tell us that
05:49these aren't what we're seeing, or like it's contributable to a 2023 rules change, and come on.
05:54Inevitably, then, the issue was taken higher. On December 12th, the White House National Security
06:00Communications Advisor, John Kirby, addressed the drone reports during a dedicated press briefing,
06:05where he claimed that, at the time, investigators did not believe there was any foreign involvement
06:10in any of the cases. Kirby also suggested that many of the sightings were simply of
06:15misidentified airplanes. We've looked at the imagery. We can't corroborate some of the
06:21reported sightings through our own expert analysis using sophisticated detection techniques,
06:27but that doesn't mean that, you know, we're putting our pen down here this afternoon and
06:31calling it a day. We're going to keep at this. But the government line has only served to
06:35generate more frustration for some. There have been multiple stories of tension between local
06:40government and law enforcement and the federal government higher-ups. Those on the ground,
06:45local sheriffs and mayors, particularly in Ocean County, New Jersey, have repeatedly put pressure
06:50on national government figures to provide greater transparency and more detail. They feel, though,
06:56that more often than not, their calls have fallen on deaf ears. After watching Robert Wheeler's
07:02testimony today, I'm kind of fed up, and I'm part of that group of mayors that authored a
07:06pair of letters on Sunday trying to bring more focus to this, and we did. I genuinely think it's
07:13time to start harvesting drones and stop worrying about the rules. Whoever's running these drones,
07:17they're not worrying about the rules. They're using the rules against us. December 16th proved
07:23to be another crucial day in terms of how the narrative took shape. The FBI, the FAA,
07:28the Department of Homeland Security, and the Defense Department issued a joint statement,
07:34saying that after close examination of the data, they deemed the sightings to be, quote,
07:39a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones,
07:44as well as man-fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,
07:51end quote. They claimed to have found nothing anomalous, and again, nothing by way of a
07:56national security or public safety risk. A seemingly positive development, but the
08:01vagueness remained. A lot of Democrats and Republicans are confused and very, very,
08:08frankly, frustrated. At the same time, President-elect Donald Trump spoke about the drones
08:14during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Trump said that the government knew
08:18what was happening in relation to the drones, and that the military, quote, knew where they took off
08:23from, but for some reason they don't want to comment, end quote. When Trump was asked whether
08:36he had received an intelligence briefing on the drones, however, he also replied in the same,
08:41noncommittal way. All of which takes us, finally, to a run-through of the theories so far. First,
08:51drawing from the joint statement made by U.S. security agencies, one possibility is that all
08:56of the sightings really are conventionally explainable as being related to scheduled
09:01military activity, police activity, or even simply to amateur drone users deliberately
09:06fueling the story by purposely flying at night more often than usual, and in or around New Jersey
09:12in particular. There are some other, much darker ideas and conspiracy theories out there, though.
09:17There is information, but they're holding it back, and now what you have is panic. Originally
09:24some questions, now you have serious, serious concerns. One is that no matter what the U.S.
09:30government says, the drones are being controlled by America's adversaries for reasons unknown.
09:36Another is that the drones are and were launched by America itself, but the secretiveness is due
09:42to some kind of disturbing reason for their deployment. My guess, my own guess, is that these
09:49drones are not nefarious in intent. If they are, they are, but I doubt it. But if they are, are
09:58drones, the only reason why they would be flying and flying that low is because they're trying to
10:04smell something on the ground. John Ferguson, the CEO of Saxon Aerospace, caught attention on TikTok
10:10at the height of the sightings when he said during a video that he believed the drones were, quote,
10:15looking for something, that they were, quote, trying to smell something on the ground, before
10:20implying that that something could be a dangerous gas leak, radioactive material, or even a lost
10:26nuclear weapon. There have been reports of spikes in radiation in the New York metropolitan area,
10:31two of them, one on each side of the Hudson, and so that leads to the conclusion that maybe they're
10:40looking for an implanted nuclear weapon. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
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10:54switch on your notifications. Lastly, and unsurprisingly, the drones have been viewed
11:01by some as potentially being not of this world. 2024 has certainly been an eye-opening year in
11:07terms of UAP news, with the revelations around Immaculate Constellation and the November 13th
11:13congressional hearing both making international headlines. Could it be that this most recent spate
11:18of strange things seen in the sky is connected? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
11:23These are large drones. The state police helicopter flew over a six-foot drone. I mean, this is
11:31crazy stuff. This is not, you know, very easily available stuff. This is off-the-shelf stuff that
11:37you buy at Best Buy. I mean, these are legitimate aircraft. For now, beware that there is a lot of
11:43misinformation around. With the drone sightings, there are some clips that have been found to be
11:48fake, but at the same time, there's no doubt that hundreds, even thousands of people are seeing
11:54something of note. The true significance of these events could well come to light very soon.
11:59We're left with… what we are left with are possibilities, many of them plausible,
12:05but all the plausible scenarios really are ominous.